The word utopian socialism refers to the first people of modern socialist thought. One of the first things to note is that, although it is possible for any number of ideas or any person living at any time in history to be a Utopian socialist, the title is most often used to describe those socialists who lived within the first twenty-five years of the 19th century. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, the other branches of socialism like scientific socialism overtook utopian in terms of intellectual maturity and number of followers and supporters.
The first person to actually coin the word “utopia” was Thomas More. More is most famous because of the book he wrote titled Utopia, which was released in 1516. The book is a satire of what life would be like on a fake island where the inhabitants’ individual needs were second to society as a whole. Everyone on the island owned the land; all people had to take part in the sharing of the work load, religious tolerance was practiced and there was even universal health care. 1 So, we can draw the conclusion that More was one of the first utopian socialists of the time, creating some of the first ideas and ideals for future men to follow.
An important aspect to consider is that Utopian socialists never really ever used this name to describe themselves. The term "Utopian socialism" was invented by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the book The Communist Manifesto. However, after it had been created, some of the later socialist thinkers used it to describe the early socialist thinkers like Owen and Fourier, among others. 2 The problem with this is that many of these individuals didn’t have all of the same values describing the hypothetical societies they created. So, now the result is that we have this term, “Utopian socialism,” describing many people with many different values. On the other hand, the societies that were thought up were generally hypothetical situations of "perfect" societies, with the people that created them not actually concerning themselves with the manner in which these societies could be created or sustained. 3 Primary Source:
Despite the fact that many Utopian socialists did not share many common social, political, or economic perspectives, Marx and Engels tried to persuade us that there were certain characteristics that were the same. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels state that, "The undeveloped state of the class struggle, as well as their own surroundings, causes Socialists of this kind to consider themselves far superior to all class antagonisms. They want to improve the condition of every member of society, even that of the most favored. Hence, they habitually appeal to society at large, without distinction of class; nay, by preference, to the ruling class. For how can people, when once they understand their system, fail to see it in the best possible plan of the best possible state of society? Hence, they reject all political, and especially all revolutionary, action; they wish to attain their ends by peaceful means, and endeavor, by small experiments, necessarily doomed to failure, and by the force of example, to pave the way for the new social Gospel". 4
So, Marx and Engels are trying to say that among the wide array of Utopian socialists a couple of things are uniform among them. These thinkers want to improve society as a whole for all people in it. They also wish to attain their goals in a peaceful manner, through experiments, by which people will be unable to deny their new way of life based on the success of the experiments.
On the other hand, some of the people who disagree with these conclusions argue that these experimental communities are not Utopian at all. These critics argue that the very act of setting up an experimental community to see results make these socialists, scientific socialists. For example, Joshua Muravchik, a socialist party activist, stated that science is "the practice of experimentation, of hypothesis and test," and argued that "Owen and Fourier and their followers were the real ‘scientific socialists.’ They hit upon the idea of socialism, and they tested it by attempting to form socialist communities". 5 Another aspect that Muravchik argued was that, Marx made predictions about the future that could not be tested. He believed that Marx’s view of socialism was one that would just eventually occur, because if society evolves through time people will eventually be led to a utopian way of life anyway. 6 So, it would be like where Darwinism says humans evolved from primates, a Utopian society would eventually evolve from their current society.
So, one of these so called “scientific socialists” mentioned in the previous paragraph was Robert Owen. Owen was a businessman who believed in reinvestment of part of his own profit to improve conditions for his workers. 7 Owen can be considered to be a forerunner in the Utopian socialist department. He worked to improve the lives of his employees, and people in general, by creating better working conditions, shorter work days, schools for kids, and better housing for the working class. These traits put him well in line with Marx and Engels’ definition of a Utopian socialist.
History of Utopian Socialism: The People, The Events
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint Simon (Henri de Saint Simon for short) (10/17/1760-5/19/1825) (JM)
Henri de Saint Simon was a Frenchman who fought with the French and American colonists against the British during the American Revolutionary War but remained neutral during the French Revolution, but got rich as a result of land speculating during the French Revolution.8 Saint Simon viewed humans as greedy, and to create a Utopian Society, this way of thinking must disappear. Saint Simon opposed having a revolution because of the failure of the French Revolution, but rather he wanted reforms, and he tried to lobby with King Louis XVIII, to implement his system. Saint Simon wanted to have state capitalism where captains of industry controlled it and that labor organizers would control society. Saint Simon also advocated that spiritual and religious matters should be governed by scientists and that Christianity should be boiled down to just its philosophy and morality. He also wanted to abolish inheritance and unite all instruments of labor in a social fund and have estates be managed socially. He advocated a meritocracy where all people will have their professions dictated to them by what skills they have. As far as gender equality went, Saint-Simon believed that women should have all the rights that men have and he was against marriage, believing it to be an oppressive institution and as a solution he proposed free love with some sanctions. 9
The Church of the Saint Simonians (RS)
The Saint Simonians were the disciples of Henri Saint Simon. The ideas of Saint Simon never really caught on during his life time, it was later on that these ideas started becoming more wide spread. 8 Two men, Barthelemy-Prosper Enfantin and Saint Amand Bazard were two of the leaders of the wider Saint Simonians group. In 1829, Enfantin and Bazard formed a 'church;' making a Saint Simonian family. This was the start of the Saint Simonians becoming a powerful social force in France, up to the outbreak of the French Revolution in July of 1830. Henri Saint Simon himself projected the French Revolution, warning that the monarchy would fall if they did not change and evolve beyond the feudal aristocracy. 9 The French Revolution sparked even more interest in the Saint Simonians, and they embraced it, going out and spreading their message. A key event was the Saint Simonians converting the editor of one of the most important French newspapers, Le Globe, and therefore, started pushing even more the ideals of the Saint Simonians. 10. By 1831, nearly 40,000 people had jointed the Saint Simonian Church. 11 Some of the most important French thinkers, writers and artists of the time, Etinne Cabet, a French Utopian Socialist, Philippe Buchez, Louis Blanc; a writer, Maxime du Camp, Georges Sand, and Franz Liszt; a musician. 12 The Saint Simonians spread so fast that one of their chiefs, Charles Duveyrier, felt that “within a few years the whole of France will be Saint Simonian.” 13
What did the Saint Simonians push for though? They did not want to set up small communities like we see in other Utopian Socialists, rather, they wanted to serve all of humanity and to have all of humanity be a single family. They thought of Paris as the center of the civilization, and as such saw Paris and France as the headquarters for a Utopian revolution. They did not push as other Utopian socialists for everyone being equal, rather they thought there was an importance of a hierarchy. They felt that people should have some form of rankings. However, it should be understood that they saw this as a stepping stone toward universal equality, because they felt that the unity of people arose out of the success of hierarchies. They also pushed for some sort of religion hierarchy, where again, some would rise above other religious figures. But, they saw this as a stepping stone toward equality. Also, that society needs some decisions on how to best organize the production and distribution of goods. 14 They also saw separate hierarchies in many aspects of life, like banking. A long term goal would be that the production of goods and services would be so fair and equal, that there would be an elimination of money, because people wouldn't need it, rather the government would control everything, through ration coupons or some other way of the government or a central authority controlling the aspects of production. The Church of Saint Simonians also never pushed for the complete destruction of private ownership, but rather being the owner of a means of production wouldn't mean absolute control of the production, but rather was foreshadowing centralized planning economies like the Soviet Union. 15 They wanted the basic needs of all members of society to be met. 16 They were willing to endorse the egalitarian principle of reward according to needs, an idea that was to become a centeral tenent of Marx and Engels. 17 The Chruch of the Saint Simonians also started pushing for a revaultion of the family, because one of the most basic jobs of the family then, as it is today, is to provide the basic services that under the Saint Simonians would become the job of the government. So, this lead to the Saint Simonians to be some of the earliest advocates of women's rights. 18
However, trouble came when Enfantin made an attempt to push for a much freer form of relations than was supported by the Catholic Church, and therefore, many of the followers of the Church of Saint Simon left the church. 19 Enfantin and the Church kept on drifting away from their initial goals as discussed above, and their over focus on religion and dogma also led to many members leaving. 20 On December 15, 1832, the church was disbanded, and Enfantin was arrested. The French government thought this was end of the Saint Simonians and the ideas of Henri Saint Simon. However, they found many European thinkers started adopting and working the ideas of Saint Simon and the Church of Saint Simonian. People like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, among others read the works of Henri Saint Simon that had been published after Saint Simon's death. The result of the Church of Saint Simonians is that they had provided the push for the development of philosophical and sociological positivism, socialist through in all its varieties, the ideology of industrialism, and secular religious thinking. 21
Robert Owen (5/14/1771-11/17/1858) (JM)
Robert Owen was a Welsh capitalist in the cotton industry, but unlike many of the other bourgeois capitalist, he paid his workers well he is also regarded as the first Utopian Socialist. Owen did not believe that a person was responsible for their own well being, but rather they are a product of their own environment. A second belief of Owen was that religion is problematic because it creates bigotry and ignorance but he was a spiritual person. Finally he preferred the cottage industry or the putting out system (great name, I know), to the factory system. 22 However, he did not completely eschew industrialization because he said that machines could reduce hours of labor and also do the least desirable jobs for people. 23
In 1817, Owen tried lobbying to Parliament to have the House of Commons saying that the cause of the suffering was industrialization and people losing their jobs to machines. He proposed organizing society where children are raised communally, and all the products of these farming communities is shared communally. 24
In 1825, Owen set up two Utopian communities, one of them in Orbiston, Scotland and another one in New Harmony, Indiana, The United States, these were cooperatives, where people would grow their own food, make their own clothing and be self sufficient. Both of these communities failed after two years because due to a lack Owen’s presence because he had to divide up his time governing both of these communities and also because the people disliked not having private property and individual sovereignty. Another reason why he failed was the makeup of the people that lived there. The people that were there were a combination of everyone from true believers to the cause, to adventurers, criminals and other people of a dubious reputation. When this experiment failed, Owen lost much of the money that he invested in it. 25
Owen's Experiences in England: (RS)
This is a picture of New Lanark
Owen developed his ideas that are acknowledged to be Utopian Socialism from his experiences as a manger and owner of a factory in England, in a city called New Lanark. In 1800, the population consisted of 1,800 workers, but Owen saw them as idle, intemperate, dishonest, devoid of truth, and pretenders to religion. 26 His view that a man's charter is shaped by the environment in which he lives, so he worked on changing the environment of New Lanark. Therefore, the city of New Lanark started to become a better and better place to live. He improved the streets and houses, better sanatary arrangements, new stores that sold goods at a fair price. 27 He worked to improve the educational system in New Lanark, and in the process, brought some levels of education reform. In 1815, he took a tour of English manufacturing facilities, and wrote a book about his expereinces, called Observations on the Effect of the Manufacturing System, which caused him to work for legal means of treating employees fairly. He wanted regulation of work hours, and stopping children under the age of 10 from working. 28 A bill Owen wrote eventually passed, but it was so watered down as to have had little effect. 29 Owen tried to run for parliament in 1819 and 1820, but was defeated. 30 This shows how committed he was to the cause of worker's rights and utopian ideas. He was an early advocate for workers rights, and he actually did what he preached, as we see in how he treated his workers in New Lanark.
Owen after his experiences in America: (RS)
After Owen failed in America with his experiment in New Harmony, Indiana, he returned to England in 1829. He became a figure in the newly forming worker's unions through out England. Although he was initally hesitant to join these unions, he did not think that unions would work, he came around to the idea. 31. Like the Saint Simonians, Owen started questioning religion, and pushed for a rational religion based on the science of society and a fraternal charity. 32 This is a similar view that the Saint Simonians would take, in that religion is based in the science of society. Owen kept pushing for workers and Utopian ideas until the day he died at the age of 87. Through out his entire life, Owen never stopped fighting for Utopian ideals, and it was with his pen that he was especially effective, in that he wrote many books about worker's rights, and wrote or attempted to write many laws to give workers basic rights. He could be seen as an predecessor to Marx and Engels, and is fully a Utopian socialist.
Owen's Impact on Utopian Socialism: (RS)
Owen's impact is not as visible as others in regard to Utopian socialism. He did play an early, important role in Utopian Socialism. He was most active in the early 1800's in getting going the idea of worker's rights, and he walked what he talked, he did the ideals he spoke about. This leads to his writings to try and relate theory to real world examples, which makes his writings harder to analyze. However, Marx and Engels are reported to have admired Owen's attempts to relate theory and practice. 33 Owen later in life came to conclusion that three social institutions were the significant cause of unhappiness, and therefore obstacles to Utopia. He felt that religion, private property and marriage to be these root causes. 34 These ideas fall into line with other Utopian socialist, especially the religion and private property. Primary Source:
“Religion destroys the rational faculties of the human race; private property creates poverty in the masses and engenders all the sordid and meanest vices which now pervade society, and marriage generates jealousy, revenge, envy, hatred, deception, anger, violence, and to the complete the catalog, prostitution and its endless crimes, the greatest evil that could befall the human race.” 35
Owen feels very strongly about how these three institutions are not positive for the human race. He relates these all to negative things, and therefore, an obstacle toward Utopian ideals. Owen's attack on marriage is also an attack on religion and how marriage is controlled by the church. Much like today's debate about gay marriage, where the Church has a very large say in what they feel is marriage, Owen supports that marriage is about love and affection. 36 His attack on marriage is more an attack on the family, and he would feel that families are not necessary in his ideal, Utopian society. His ideal would be cooperative communities like he tried to establish in the United States and Scotland.
Charles Fourier (1772-1837) (JM)
Charles Fourier viewed poverty as the cause of disorder, and other social problems, and his solution was high wages for the working class as well as providing welfare for those who could not work. He also believed that in his view of a perfect society that those that worked harsher less desirable jobs were paid more.
He attempted to set up communities called phalanxes, which were four story apartments, where the rich lived on the top levels and the poor lived on the bottom levels. Along with thinking that poverty being the cause of all social problems, he viewed trade with just as much disdain, and hated the Industrial Revolution, meaning that these phalanxes would be agrarian communities. He set up one of these phalanx communities and in Utopia, Ohio (fitting name don’t you think?). In these communities $25.00 a year would gave a family a house and a plot of land to farm. This community failed and fell apart after three years, due to various problems, the most interesting of them being that they believed that if their community succeeded then the Oceans would turn into lemonade. This never happened, I’ve tasted Ocean water it’s not lemonade, trust me. Utopia, OH still exists, and is referred to as a ghost town, even though people still live there, and the town is unincorporated. 36 Primary Source
The working classes have no idea of the real value of their own labour. When a man has done a week's work, and recieved his wages for it, he thinks he has received his wages for it, he thinks he has received the whole value of his work: but this is by no means the case. He has made a bargain with his master, that he will give a week's work for a certain sum of money. Whether this be much or little, it is called, vulgarly, the value of work. But his is merely a common phrase. It is a very indefinite one, and from long habit, has become confounded in the minds of the working classes, with the whole value of the work done. If wages were the whole value of the work, how could the master take the work to market, sell it for more money than he gave for it, and grow rich upon the profit, while the workman grown poor upon the wages? This would be impossible. Therefore it is evident that the workman does not get the whole value of his work; and it is also evident that if he did he would grow rich, just as the master does. 37
This quote was from William King (1786-1865), who was a doctor and the editor of the newspaper The Collector. This passage shows that Industrialization was the reason why the Utopian Socialist movement began throughout Europe, and also, according to Harrison, these Utopian thinkers did not have much understanding on economic theory and believed that the value of a manufactured good depended on the labor that went into it, more extreme Utopians even viewed rent as stealing from the working class as well.38 Karl Marx shared the idea that the value of a manufactured good was due to the labor that went into making it and not supply and demand. This also shows that they did not understand that management did play a role in production and likewise should be paid even though there is little argument nowadays that workers should be paid more for their labor.
Etienne Cabet (1/1/1778-11/9/1856) (JM)
Etienne Cabet was a French Utopian Socialist who tried to fuse religion with ways to solve social problems caused by Industrialization. While he was elected into the chamber of deputies, he bitterly criticized the government which caused him to be convicted of treason and as a result he was exiled to Great Britain from 1834-39. He only used smear tactics on those who used it against him and his main enemies were other Utopian Socialists who were less powerful than he was. Most of his recruits were skilled workers such as tailors, shoemakers and cabinetmakers and other artisans of that nature who suffered mostly from the side effects of industrialization, such as being replaced by machines. 38 There were two different sects of followers of Icarians. One group where Cabet's pacifism, and piety but retained his idealism. The second group were the true believers. These people followed Cabet completely, and believed that there was a "New Jerusalem" in America. Many people immigrated to America and set up various towns, but 39 Cabet had changed his strategy and ideology because he began to collaborate with the bourgeoise, but still professed working class solidarity, and also did a Uturn and believed that working class solidarity, proposed that capitalism actually is a precursor to socialism, and that his concept of revolution changed . After 1848, when Cabet set sail to New Orleans to set up a self sufficient community, he also bought what used to be a Mormon settlement in Nauvoo, IL, but by 1856, the unity of the town fell apart, and Cabet and 180 followers left for St. Louis, where he later died. 39 When he and his followers left for America, the Icarian movement had almost disappeared, and most wanted to leave for America to set up the Icarian Communities 40. Icarian Communism was the first French movement for the complete overthrow of the capitalist system. 41 There was little that could be done to circumvent the sectarian nature of the Icarian Movement and Cabet's change of philosophy which discredited himself. 42
Why Now? (EN)
The reign of Utopian Socialism in France was from 1830 to 1848 during the July Monarchy, but it had its roots planted from the French Revolution. The Utopian Socialism movement started in France after the French Revolution created a void in government. After the French Revolution, there was no consensus among the people as to what the new government should be. The generation that came to age in the 1820’s strove to create a new social and political order out of anarchy. 42 “We swear never to separate ourselves from the National Assembly, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the realm is drawn up and fixed upon solid foundations.” This was the oath taken by the people present at the Tennis Courts of Old Versailles. 43 Thus began the fight for rights and liberties that would ultimately leave the working classes looking for something more, and something better.
The promises of the French Revolution, being unfulfilled, left the working class feeling once again left out of the realm of comfort and influence; a position that was once held by the monarch’s now industrial leaders. Robert Owen in Report to the County of Lanark refers to the working classes as slaves: “The working classes [are] made slaves of an artificial system of wages, more cruel in it’s effects than any slavery ever practiced by society either barbarous or civilized” 44
Charles Fourier believed that in the current arrangement of Laissez Faire economics, people would only be working for their own benefit, or for the benefit of their families. He stated this as a fact of human nature; to look after oneself is within one’s best interest, though to a loss for the community at large. He believed that this could not work for long in a society, but it is not possible to change ones nature; so he proposed changing people’s direction instead. In The Theory of Universal Unity Fourier claims that “aside from slavery, the only means by which society can force men to work is to make them fear starvation and punishment. Yet God has destined us to work, he should not have to use violent means. How can we believe that he is not able to employ a nobler device, or an enticement capable of transforming work into pleasure?” (Marx pg 116) He established several different ways to make work more appealing to men; one example would be that each person (men, women, and children included) must be paid in proportion to the amount of work they did and another by what capital was gained by their employer. He also believed in varying tasks throughout the work day and encouraging people to work with friends. Some of these ideas may be radical now, and they were even more so then. Equal pay for women likened itself to the women’s rights movement, which was almost nonexistent; the only active women’s rights movements came out of the Saint-Simonians. Fourier believed that in the new order of economics, socialist people would “enjoy a guarantee of well-being, a minimum income sufficient for present and future needs.” 45 With their needs taken care of, their minds free of welfare anxiety, and the worry alleviated regarding supporting their dependents, they would be able to be more productive and would want to work.
Why Utopian? (EN)
The phrase Utopian socialism was coined by Marx, who fully meant it to be derogatory. The term Utopia was first used by Moore, who used it as meaning both no-place and a good place. Utopia was both a good place and an example of how to live, but also it was a place that did not nor could ever exist. If one believed in the possibility of a Utopia, according to Marx, they were naïve as he believed that the perfect society could not be created in the way that the Brook Farm, Owen’s New Lanark, or New Harmony was trying. Marx believed that these experiments were doomed to failure. The people who were apart of these utopian societies did not see themselves as looking for a utopia. They saw themselves as looking for a better way of structuring society and what they saw was socialism. Only a few of the socialist groups at this time were looking to break from society and form separate societies; those that did were small scale Utopian experiments that were entered into voluntary. 46 Most were looking to change the society they were living in to form better living conditions. Women’s movements and change in the working conditions of industrial settings were some of the places that they saw a need for change. By 1840, socialism was virtually synonymous with Owenism and the Owenites appropriated themselves the title of socialist. 47
The workers who felt they were not being accounted for in the new society of France were looking for a way to fulfill the lost promises from the days of the revolution. They were looking for a society built on equality and with fair right for the workers. Socialism made sense to the down trodden workers of the time and utopian societies were the way for the people to have their fair share of the profits, by doing their fair share of the work. Getting paid fairly to do the work they were doing and having a once again a sound base of governing was what the people in France were looking for after the tremulous years of Revolutions and anarchy and those are the things that Utopian Socialism promised.
Endnotes:
1. (Farrow)
2. (The History of Economic Thought Website)
3. (The History of Economic Thought Website)
4. ( Marx and Engels)
5. (IRC-Political Research Associates)
6. (IRC-Political Research Associates)
7. (Kreis) (The Colombus Encyclopedia, sixth edition, Colombia University Press, 3426) 8. (Pickering, 212)
9. (http://english.illinoisstate.edu/Strickland/495/utopia.html) 10. (Taylor, 134) 11. (Taylor, 134) 12. (Taylor, 135) 13. (Taylor, 136) 14. (Taylor, 138) 15. (Eckalbar, 41) 16. (Taylor, 154) 17. (Taylor, 155) 18. (Taylor, 155) 19. (Taylor, 159) 20. (Taylor, 135, Pickering, 218) 21. (Pickering, 218)
22. (Taylor, 139)
23. (An Encyclopedia of World History, 176)
24. (Harrison, 12)
25. (Harrison, 69)
26. (Harrison, 16)
27. (Harrison, 104-107).
28.(Taylor, 72)
29.(Taylor, 72)
30.(Taylor, 72)
31. (Taylor, 72)
32. (Taylor, 76)
33. (Toth)
34. (Taylor, 79).
35. (Taylor, 84)
36. (Taylor, 86)
37. (Owens, Robert. The New Moral World. 11, 1835).
38. (Taylor, 87)
39. (Ohio State History Department, "Foundations of Utopia" www.ohio.edu/Chastian/rz/sanomni.htm (acsessed October 28, 2009))
(The Colombia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, s.v. "Etienne Cabet", 212)
40. (George Slusser, Paul Alkon, Roger Gaillard, and Daniele Chatelain, Transformations of Utopia:
Chagning Views of the Perfect Society (New York, AMS Press, Inc.), 275)
41. (Melvin J. Lasky, Utopia and Revolution (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press), 221)
42. (Christopher H. Johnson, Utopian Communism in France (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press)
43. (www.ohio.edu/Chastian/rz/sanmoni.htm)
44. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87526/Etienne-Cabet)
Farrow, John. “The Story of Thomas More.” Catholic Information Network. 1997. 10 Nov. 2009. < http://www.cin.org/farmor.html>.
The website that I found here contained a very well written biography of Thomas More, author of the
book Utopia. I read this towards the beginning of the project to get an idea of an early definition of what a “utopia” really was.
“Joshua Muravchik.” Right Web. 26 Jan. 2009. IRC-Political Research Associates. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Muravchik_Joshua>.
This website gave me a very useful biography of Joshua Muravchik. I was able to see his views on some of the Utopian socialists of the 19th century including, Owen and Marx.
Kuhn, Rick. “Manifesto of the Communist Party 1848.” 28 April 2008. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html>.
I used this website version of the Communist Manifesto when I was unable to use the book version.
Marx, Karl, and Engels, Frederick. The Communist Manifesto. 1848.
I used the Manifesto as my primary source reading in my part of the project. The part I chose gave a very straight forward explanation of what the definition of a Utopian socialist was for Marx and Engels.
Kreis, Steven. “Robert Owen, 1771-1858.” The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History. 2000. 10 Nov. 2009. <http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/owen.html>.
I chose this website for the very thorough biography of the life of Robert Owen. The writing gave me a good impression of how he was able to work at improving the conditions for the working class by reinvesting his profits back into his workers.
“Utopians and Socialists.” The History of Economic Thought Website. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://homepage.newschool.edu/hetschools/utopia.htm>. I fell upon this website as I was searching for more Utopian socialists. I used this site to get more information on some of the well known Utopian socialists, as well as some that I had never heard of before.
Taylor,Keith. The Poltical Ideas of the Utopian Socialists. 1 ed. Totawa, New Jersey: Frank Cass and Comany Limited, 1982. This book covered the big names in Utopain Socialism, with a biography and then aspects of their ideas.
Taylor, Antony. 1995. "New Views of an Old Moral World: An Apprasial of Robert Owen.”Labor History 36, no. 1: 88-94. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2009).
A review of the books written by Robert Owen, covers aspects of his life and how Owen went about his job of changing Utopian ideals.
Walsh, Chad. From Utopia to Nightmare. New York City: Harper and Row, 1962.
This book covered both the early days of Utopian socialism, to the later days, and then dives into modern Utopian ideas.
Sombart,Wener. Socialism and the Social Movement. 6th Translated by M. Epstein. New York City: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968.
This book, originally written in German, has a few chapters about Utopian Socialism, it also shows a connection between Utopian socialism and later Communist ideas.
Eckalbar, John C. 1977. "The Saint-Simonian Philosophy of History: A Note." History & Theory 16, no. 1: 40-44. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2009).
This article covers the philosphy of the Saint Simonians, and also parts of their early history.
Pickering, Mary. 1993. "Auguste Comete and the Saint-Simonians." French Historical Studies 18, no. 1: 211-236. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2009).
This article covered the connection between August Comte, a secretary and friend of Henri Saint Simon, and his relationship with the Saint-Simonian church.
Alan B. Spitzer, The French Generation of 1820 (Princeton, 1987).
Explains some of the back ground of the French people that became Utopoan Socialist.
“Gazette Nationale, ou Le Monituer universel,” trans. Laura Mason, Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, eds., The French Revolution: A Document Collection (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), 60-61.
Transcript of the Tennis Court Oaths.
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto, (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s), 1999.
Explains Marx's views, in this edition there were also other primary sources in the appendixes including Fourier.
Michael Levin, “John Stuart Mill: A Liberal looks at Utopian Socialism in the Years of Revolution 1848-9,” Utopian Studies 14, no. 2 (2003): 68-82.
Looks at the Utopian Socialist during the time of the Revolutions of 1848.
Frederick Engels, “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific,” Marx/Engels Selected Works, vol. 3 (Progress Publishers) 1970, 95-151.Explains Engels views on Socialism.
Johnson, Christopher H. Utopian Communism in France: Cabet ad the Icarians 1839-1851. Ithaca and London: Cornell University
Press, 1974.
This describes Etienne Cabet's Icarian Movement.
Harrison, J.F.C. Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1969.
This book describes Robert Owen's background and his experiments of Utopian communities.
Slusser, George, Paul Alkon, Roger Gaillard, and Daniele Chatelain. Transformations of Utopia: Changing Views of Perfect Society. New York: AMS Press, 1999.
This monograph describes how the views of various Utopian Socialists differed on what they thought was a perfect society.
Lasky, Melvin J. Utopia and Revolution. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
This book describes how Utopian Philosophers were involved in Revolutions throughout France.
Ohio State History Department, "Foundations of Utopia" www.ohio.edu/Chastian/rz/sanomni.htm (acsessed October 28, 2009)
This describes the influence Charles Fourier had on the Utopian Socialist Movement.
Utopian Socialism
Utopian Socialism: What is it? (BQ)
The word utopian socialism refers to the first people of modern socialist thought. One of the first things to note is that, although it is possible for any number of ideas or any person living at any time in history to be a Utopian socialist, the title is most often used to describe those socialists who lived within the first twenty-five years of the 19th century. From the middle of the 19th century onwards, the other branches of socialism like scientific socialism overtook utopian in terms of intellectual maturity and number of followers and supporters.
The first person to actually coin the word “utopia” was Thomas More. More is most famous because of the book he wrote titled Utopia, which was released in 1516. The book is a satire of what life would be like on a fake island where the inhabitants’ individual needs were second to society as a whole. Everyone on the island owned the land; all people had to take part in the sharing of the work load, religious tolerance was practiced and there was even universal health care. 1 So, we can draw the conclusion that More was one of the first utopian socialists of the time, creating some of the first ideas and ideals for future men to follow.
An important aspect to consider is that Utopian socialists never really ever used this name to describe themselves. The term "Utopian socialism" was invented by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the book The Communist Manifesto. However, after it had been created, some of the later socialist thinkers used it to describe the early socialist thinkers like Owen and Fourier, among others . 2 The problem with this is that many of these individuals didn’t have all of the same values describing the hypothetical societies they created. So, now the result is that we have this term, “Utopian socialism,” describing many people with many different values. On the other hand, the societies that were thought up were generally hypothetical situations of "perfect" societies, with the people that created them not actually concerning themselves with the manner in which these societies could be created or sustained . 3
Primary Source:
Despite the fact that many Utopian socialists did not share many common social, political, or economic perspectives, Marx and Engels tried to persuade us that there were certain characteristics that were the same. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels state that, "The undeveloped state of the class struggle, as well as their own surroundings, causes Socialists of this kind to consider themselves far superior to all class antagonisms. They want to improve the condition of every member of society, even that of the most favored. Hence, they habitually appeal to society at large, without distinction of class; nay, by preference, to the ruling class. For how can people, when once they understand their system, fail to see it in the best possible plan of the best possible state of society? Hence, they reject all political, and especially all revolutionary, action; they wish to attain their ends by peaceful means, and endeavor, by small experiments, necessarily doomed to failure, and by the force of example, to pave the way for the new social Gospel". 4
So, Marx and Engels are trying to say that among the wide array of Utopian socialists a couple of things are uniform among them. These thinkers want to improve society as a whole for all people in it. They also wish to attain their goals in a peaceful manner, through experiments, by which people will be unable to deny their new way of life based on the success of the experiments.
On the other hand, some of the people who disagree with these conclusions argue that these experimental communities are not Utopian at all. These critics argue that the very act of setting up an experimental community to see results make these socialists, scientific socialists. For example, Joshua Muravchik, a socialist party activist, stated that science is "the practice of experimentation, of hypothesis and test," and argued that "Owen and Fourier and their followers were the real ‘scientific socialists.’ They hit upon the idea of socialism, and they tested it by attempting to form socialist communities". 5 Another aspect that Muravchik argued was that, Marx made predictions about the future that could not be tested. He believed that Marx’s view of socialism was one that would just eventually occur, because if society evolves through time people will eventually be led to a utopian way of life anyway. 6 So, it would be like where Darwinism says humans evolved from primates, a Utopian society would eventually evolve from their current society.
So, one of these so called “scientific socialists” mentioned in the previous paragraph was Robert Owen. Owen was a businessman who believed in reinvestment of part of his own profit to improve conditions for his workers. 7 Owen can be considered to be a forerunner in the Utopian socialist department. He worked to improve the lives of his employees, and people in general, by creating better working conditions, shorter work days, schools for kids, and better housing for the working class. These traits put him well in line with Marx and Engels’ definition of a Utopian socialist.
History of Utopian Socialism: The People, The Events
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint Simon (Henri de Saint Simon for short) (10/17/1760-5/19/1825) (JM)
Henri de Saint Simon was a Frenchman who fought with the French and American colonists against the British during the American Revolutionary War but remained neutral during the French Revolution, but got rich as a result of land speculating during the French Revolution.8 Saint Simon viewed humans as greedy, and to create a Utopian Society, this way of thinking must disappear. Saint Simon opposed having a revolution because of the failure of the French Revolution, but rather he wanted reforms, and he tried to lobby with King Louis XVIII, to implement his system. Saint Simon wanted to have state capitalism where captains of industry controlled it and that labor organizers would control society. Saint Simon also advocated that spiritual and religious matters should be governed by scientists and that Christianity should be boiled down to just its philosophy and morality. He also wanted to abolish inheritance and unite all instruments of labor in a social fund and have estates be managed socially. He advocated a meritocracy where all people will have their professions dictated to them by what skills they have. As far as gender equality went, Saint-Simon believed that women should have all the rights that men have and he was against marriage, believing it to be an oppressive institution and as a solution he proposed free love with some sanctions. 9
The Church of the Saint Simonians (RS)
The Saint Simonians were the disciples of Henri Saint Simon. The ideas of Saint Simon never really caught on during his life time, it was later on that these ideas started becoming more wide spread. 8 Two men, Barthelemy-Prosper Enfantin and Saint Amand Bazard were two of the leaders of the wider Saint Simonians group. In 1829, Enfantin and Bazard formed a 'church;' making a Saint Simonian family. This was the start of the Saint Simonians becoming a powerful social force in France, up to the outbreak of the French Revolution in July of 1830. Henri Saint Simon himself projected the French Revolution, warning that the monarchy would fall if they did not change and evolve beyond the feudal aristocracy. 9 The French Revolution sparked even more interest in the Saint Simonians, and they embraced it, going out and spreading their message. A key event was the Saint Simonians converting the editor of one of the most important French newspapers, Le Globe, and therefore, started pushing even more the ideals of the Saint Simonians. 10. By 1831, nearly 40,000 people had jointed the Saint Simonian Church. 11 Some of the most important French thinkers, writers and artists of the time, Etinne Cabet, a French Utopian Socialist, Philippe Buchez, Louis Blanc; a writer, Maxime du Camp, Georges Sand, and Franz Liszt; a musician. 12 The Saint Simonians spread so fast that one of their chiefs, Charles Duveyrier, felt that “within a few years the whole of France will be Saint Simonian.” 13
What did the Saint Simonians push for though? They did not want to set up small communities like we see in other Utopian Socialists, rather, they wanted to serve all of humanity and to have all of humanity be a single family. They thought of Paris as the center of the civilization, and as such saw Paris and France as the headquarters for a Utopian revolution. They did not push as other Utopian socialists for everyone being equal, rather they thought there was an importance of a hierarchy. They felt that people should have some form of rankings. However, it should be understood that they saw this as a stepping stone toward universal equality, because they felt that the unity of people arose out of the success of hierarchies. They also pushed for some sort of religion hierarchy, where again, some would rise above other religious figures. But, they saw this as a stepping stone toward equality. Also, that society needs some decisions on how to best organize the production and distribution of goods. 14 They also saw separate hierarchies in many aspects of life, like banking. A long term goal would be that the production of goods and services would be so fair and equal, that there would be an elimination of money, because people wouldn't need it, rather the government would control everything, through ration coupons or some other way of the government or a central authority controlling the aspects of production. The Church of Saint Simonians also never pushed for the complete destruction of private ownership, but rather being the owner of a means of production wouldn't mean absolute control of the production, but rather was foreshadowing centralized planning economies like the Soviet Union. 15 They wanted the basic needs of all members of society to be met. 16 They were willing to endorse the egalitarian principle of reward according to needs, an idea that was to become a centeral tenent of Marx and Engels. 17 The Chruch of the Saint Simonians also started pushing for a revaultion of the family, because one of the most basic jobs of the family then, as it is today, is to provide the basic services that under the Saint Simonians would become the job of the government. So, this lead to the Saint Simonians to be some of the earliest advocates of women's rights. 18
However, trouble came when Enfantin made an attempt to push for a much freer form of relations than was supported by the Catholic Church, and therefore, many of the followers of the Church of Saint Simon left the church. 19 Enfantin and the Church kept on drifting away from their initial goals as discussed above, and their over focus on religion and dogma also led to many members leaving. 20 On December 15, 1832, the church was disbanded, and Enfantin was arrested. The French government thought this was end of the Saint Simonians and the ideas of Henri Saint Simon. However, they found many European thinkers started adopting and working the ideas of Saint Simon and the Church of Saint Simonian. People like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, among others read the works of Henri Saint Simon that had been published after Saint Simon's death. The result of the Church of Saint Simonians is that they had provided the push for the development of philosophical and sociological positivism, socialist through in all its varieties, the ideology of industrialism, and secular religious thinking. 21
Robert Owen (5/14/1771-11/17/1858) (JM)
Robert Owen was a Welsh capitalist in the cotton industry, but unlike many of the other bourgeois capitalist, he paid his workers well he is also regarded as the first Utopian Socialist. Owen did not believe that a person was responsible for their own well being, but rather they are a product of their own environment. A second belief of Owen was that religion is problematic because it creates bigotry and ignorance but he was a spiritual person. Finally he preferred the cottage industry or the putting out system (great name, I know), to the factory system. 22 However, he did not completely eschew industrialization because he said that machines could reduce hours of labor and also do the least desirable jobs for people. 23
In 1817, Owen tried lobbying to Parliament to have the House of Commons saying that the cause of the suffering was industrialization and people losing their jobs to machines. He proposed organizing society where children are raised communally, and all the products of these farming communities is shared communally. 24
In 1825, Owen set up two Utopian communities, one of them in Orbiston, Scotland and another one in New Harmony, Indiana, The United States, these were cooperatives, where people would grow their own food, make their own clothing and be self sufficient. Both of these communities failed after two years because due to a lack Owen’s presence because he had to divide up his time governing both of these communities and also because the people disliked not having private property and individual sovereignty. Another reason why he failed was the makeup of the people that lived there. The people that were there were a combination of everyone from true believers to the cause, to adventurers, criminals and other people of a dubious reputation. When this experiment failed, Owen lost much of the money that he invested in it. 25
Owen's Experiences in England: (RS)
Owen developed his ideas that are acknowledged to be Utopian Socialism from his experiences as a manger and owner of a factory in England, in a city called New Lanark. In 1800, the population consisted of 1,800 workers, but Owen saw them as idle, intemperate, dishonest, devoid of truth, and pretenders to religion. 26 His view that a man's charter is shaped by the environment in which he lives, so he worked on changing the environment of New Lanark. Therefore, the city of New Lanark started to become a better and better place to live. He improved the streets and houses, better sanatary arrangements, new stores that sold goods at a fair price. 27 He worked to improve the educational system in New Lanark, and in the process, brought some levels of education reform. In 1815, he took a tour of English manufacturing facilities, and wrote a book about his expereinces, called Observations on the Effect of the Manufacturing System, which caused him to work for legal means of treating employees fairly. He wanted regulation of work hours, and stopping children under the age of 10 from working. 28 A bill Owen wrote eventually passed, but it was so watered down as to have had little effect. 29 Owen tried to run for parliament in 1819 and 1820, but was defeated. 30 This shows how committed he was to the cause of worker's rights and utopian ideas. He was an early advocate for workers rights, and he actually did what he preached, as we see in how he treated his workers in New Lanark.
Owen after his experiences in America: (RS)
After Owen failed in America with his experiment in New Harmony, Indiana, he returned to England in 1829. He became a figure in the newly forming worker's unions through out England. Although he was initally hesitant to join these unions, he did not think that unions would work, he came around to the idea. 31. Like the Saint Simonians, Owen started questioning religion, and pushed for a rational religion based on the science of society and a fraternal charity. 32 This is a similar view that the Saint Simonians would take, in that religion is based in the science of society. Owen kept pushing for workers and Utopian ideas until the day he died at the age of 87. Through out his entire life, Owen never stopped fighting for Utopian ideals, and it was with his pen that he was especially effective, in that he wrote many books about worker's rights, and wrote or attempted to write many laws to give workers basic rights. He could be seen as an predecessor to Marx and Engels, and is fully a Utopian socialist.
Owen's Impact on Utopian Socialism: (RS)
Owen's impact is not as visible as others in regard to Utopian socialism. He did play an early, important role in Utopian Socialism. He was most active in the early 1800's in getting going the idea of worker's rights, and he walked what he talked, he did the ideals he spoke about. This leads to his writings to try and relate theory to real world examples, which makes his writings harder to analyze. However, Marx and Engels are reported to have admired Owen's attempts to relate theory and practice. 33 Owen later in life came to conclusion that three social institutions were the significant cause of unhappiness, and therefore obstacles to Utopia. He felt that religion, private property and marriage to be these root causes. 34 These ideas fall into line with other Utopian socialist, especially the religion and private property.
Primary Source:
“Religion destroys the rational faculties of the human race; private property creates poverty in the masses and engenders all the sordid and meanest vices which now pervade society, and marriage generates jealousy, revenge, envy, hatred, deception, anger, violence, and to the complete the catalog, prostitution and its endless crimes, the greatest evil that could befall the human race.” 35
Owen feels very strongly about how these three institutions are not positive for the human race. He relates these all to negative things, and therefore, an obstacle toward Utopian ideals. Owen's attack on marriage is also an attack on religion and how marriage is controlled by the church. Much like today's debate about gay marriage, where the Church has a very large say in what they feel is marriage, Owen supports that marriage is about love and affection. 36 His attack on marriage is more an attack on the family, and he would feel that families are not necessary in his ideal, Utopian society. His ideal would be cooperative communities like he tried to establish in the United States and Scotland.
Charles Fourier (1772-1837) (JM)
Charles Fourier viewed poverty as the cause of disorder, and other social problems, and his solution was high wages for the working class as well as providing welfare for those who could not work. He also believed that in his view of a perfect society that those that worked harsher less desirable jobs were paid more.
He attempted to set up communities called phalanxes, which were four story apartments, where the rich lived on the top levels and the poor lived on the bottom levels. Along with thinking that poverty being the cause of all social problems, he viewed trade with just as much disdain, and hated the Industrial Revolution, meaning that these phalanxes would be agrarian communities. He set up one of these phalanx communities and in Utopia, Ohio (fitting name don’t you think?). In these communities $25.00 a year would gave a family a house and a plot of land to farm. This community failed and fell apart after three years, due to various problems, the most interesting of them being that they believed that if their community succeeded then the Oceans would turn into lemonade. This never happened, I’ve tasted Ocean water it’s not lemonade, trust me. Utopia, OH still exists, and is referred to as a ghost town, even though people still live there, and the town is unincorporated. 36
Primary Source
The working classes have no idea of the real value of their own labour. When a man has done a week's work, and recieved his wages for it, he thinks he has received his wages for it, he thinks he has received the whole value of his work: but this is by no means the case. He has made a bargain with his master, that he will give a week's work for a certain sum of money. Whether this be much or little, it is called, vulgarly, the value of work. But his is merely a common phrase. It is a very indefinite one, and from long habit, has become confounded in the minds of the working classes, with the whole value of the work done. If wages were the whole value of the work, how could the master take the work to market, sell it for more money than he gave for it, and grow rich upon the profit, while the workman grown poor upon the wages? This would be impossible. Therefore it is evident that the workman does not get the whole value of his work; and it is also evident that if he did he would grow rich, just as the master does. 37
This quote was from William King (1786-1865), who was a doctor and the editor of the newspaper The Collector. This passage shows that Industrialization was the reason why the Utopian Socialist movement began throughout Europe, and also, according to Harrison, these Utopian thinkers did not have much understanding on economic theory and believed that the value of a manufactured good depended on the labor that went into it, more extreme Utopians even viewed rent as stealing from the working class as well.38 Karl Marx shared the idea that the value of a manufactured good was due to the labor that went into making it and not supply and demand. This also shows that they did not understand that management did play a role in production and likewise should be paid even though there is little argument nowadays that workers should be paid more for their labor.
Etienne Cabet (1/1/1778-11/9/1856) (JM)
Etienne Cabet was a French Utopian Socialist who tried to fuse religion with ways to solve social problems caused by Industrialization. While he was elected into the chamber of deputies, he bitterly criticized the government which caused him to be convicted of treason and as a result he was exiled to Great Britain from 1834-39. He only used smear tactics on those who used it against him and his main enemies were other Utopian Socialists who were less powerful than he was. Most of his recruits were skilled workers such as tailors, shoemakers and cabinetmakers and other artisans of that nature who suffered mostly from the side effects of industrialization, such as being replaced by machines. 38 There were two different sects of followers of Icarians. One group where Cabet's pacifism, and piety but retained his idealism. The second group were the true believers. These people followed Cabet completely, and believed that there was a "New Jerusalem" in America. Many people immigrated to America and set up various towns, but 39 Cabet had changed his strategy and ideology because he began to collaborate with the bourgeoise, but still professed working class solidarity, and also did a Uturn and believed that working class solidarity, proposed that capitalism actually is a precursor to socialism, and that his concept of revolution changed . After 1848, when Cabet set sail to New Orleans to set up a self sufficient community, he also bought what used to be a Mormon settlement in Nauvoo, IL, but by 1856, the unity of the town fell apart, and Cabet and 180 followers left for St. Louis, where he later died. 39 When he and his followers left for America, the Icarian movement had almost disappeared, and most wanted to leave for America to set up the Icarian Communities 40. Icarian Communism was the first French movement for the complete overthrow of the capitalist system. 41 There was little that could be done to circumvent the sectarian nature of the Icarian Movement and Cabet's change of philosophy which discredited himself. 42
Why Now? (EN)
The reign of Utopian Socialism in France was from 1830 to 1848 during the July Monarchy, but it had its roots planted from the French Revolution. The Utopian Socialism movement started in France after the French Revolution created a void in government. After the French Revolution, there was no consensus among the people as to what the new government should be. The generation that came to age in the 1820’s strove to create a new social and political order out of anarchy. 42 “We swear never to separate ourselves from the National Assembly, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the realm is drawn up and fixed upon solid foundations.” This was the oath taken by the people present at the Tennis Courts of Old Versailles. 43 Thus began the fight for rights and liberties that would ultimately leave the working classes looking for something more, and something better.
The promises of the French Revolution, being unfulfilled, left the working class feeling once again left out of the realm of comfort and influence; a position that was once held by the monarch’s now industrial leaders. Robert Owen in Report to the County of Lanark refers to the working classes as slaves: “The working classes [are] made slaves of an artificial system of wages, more cruel in it’s effects than any slavery ever practiced by society either barbarous or civilized” 44
Charles Fourier believed that in the current arrangement of Laissez Faire economics, people would only be working for their own benefit, or for the benefit of their families. He stated this as a fact of human nature; to look after oneself is within one’s best interest, though to a loss for the community at large. He believed that this could not work for long in a society, but it is not possible to change ones nature; so he proposed changing people’s direction instead. In The Theory of Universal Unity Fourier claims that “aside from slavery, the only means by which society can force men to work is to make them fear starvation and punishment. Yet God has destined us to work, he should not have to use violent means. How can we believe that he is not able to employ a nobler device, or an enticement capable of transforming work into pleasure?” (Marx pg 116) He established several different ways to make work more appealing to men; one example would be that each person (men, women, and children included) must be paid in proportion to the amount of work they did and another by what capital was gained by their employer. He also believed in varying tasks throughout the work day and encouraging people to work with friends. Some of these ideas may be radical now, and they were even more so then. Equal pay for women likened itself to the women’s rights movement, which was almost nonexistent; the only active women’s rights movements came out of the Saint-Simonians. Fourier believed that in the new order of economics, socialist people would “enjoy a guarantee of well-being, a minimum income sufficient for present and future needs.” 45 With their needs taken care of, their minds free of welfare anxiety, and the worry alleviated regarding supporting their dependents, they would be able to be more productive and would want to work.
Why Utopian? (EN)
The phrase Utopian socialism was coined by Marx, who fully meant it to be derogatory. The term Utopia was first used by Moore, who used it as meaning both no-place and a good place. Utopia was both a good place and an example of how to live, but also it was a place that did not nor could ever exist. If one believed in the possibility of a Utopia, according to Marx, they were naïve as he believed that the perfect society could not be created in the way that the Brook Farm, Owen’s New Lanark, or New Harmony was trying. Marx believed that these experiments were doomed to failure. The people who were apart of these utopian societies did not see themselves as looking for a utopia. They saw themselves as looking for a better way of structuring society and what they saw was socialism. Only a few of the socialist groups at this time were looking to break from society and form separate societies; those that did were small scale Utopian experiments that were entered into voluntary. 46 Most were looking to change the society they were living in to form better living conditions. Women’s movements and change in the working conditions of industrial settings were some of the places that they saw a need for change. By 1840, socialism was virtually synonymous with Owenism and the Owenites appropriated themselves the title of socialist. 47
The workers who felt they were not being accounted for in the new society of France were looking for a way to fulfill the lost promises from the days of the revolution. They were looking for a society built on equality and with fair right for the workers. Socialism made sense to the down trodden workers of the time and utopian societies were the way for the people to have their fair share of the profits, by doing their fair share of the work. Getting paid fairly to do the work they were doing and having a once again a sound base of governing was what the people in France were looking for after the tremulous years of Revolutions and anarchy and those are the things that Utopian Socialism promised.
Endnotes:
1. (Farrow)
2. (The History of Economic Thought Website)
3. (The History of Economic Thought Website)
4. ( Marx and Engels)
5. (IRC-Political Research Associates)
6. (IRC-Political Research Associates)
7. (Kreis)
(The Colombus Encyclopedia, sixth edition, Colombia University Press, 3426)
8. (Pickering, 212)
9. (http://english.illinoisstate.edu/Strickland/495/utopia.html)
10. (Taylor, 134)
11. (Taylor, 134)
12. (Taylor, 135)
13. (Taylor, 136)
14. (Taylor, 138)
15. (Eckalbar, 41)
16. (Taylor, 154)
17. (Taylor, 155)
18. (Taylor, 155)
19. (Taylor, 159)
20. (Taylor, 135, Pickering, 218)
21. (Pickering, 218)
22. (Taylor, 139)
23. (An Encyclopedia of World History, 176)
24. (Harrison, 12)
25. (Harrison, 69)
26. (Harrison, 16)
27. (Harrison, 104-107).
28.(Taylor, 72)
29.(Taylor, 72)
30.(Taylor, 72)
31. (Taylor, 72)
32. (Taylor, 76)
33. (Toth)
34. (Taylor, 79).
35. (Taylor, 84)
36. (Taylor, 86)
37. (Owens, Robert. The New Moral World. 11, 1835).
38. (Taylor, 87)
39. (Ohio State History Department, "Foundations of Utopia" www.ohio.edu/Chastian/rz/sanomni.htm (acsessed October 28, 2009))
(The Colombia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, s.v. "Etienne Cabet", 212)
40. (George Slusser, Paul Alkon, Roger Gaillard, and Daniele Chatelain, Transformations of Utopia:
Chagning Views of the Perfect Society (New York, AMS Press, Inc.), 275)
41. (Melvin J. Lasky, Utopia and Revolution (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press), 221)
42. (Christopher H. Johnson, Utopian Communism in France (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press)
43. (www.ohio.edu/Chastian/rz/sanmoni.htm)
44. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87526/Etienne-Cabet)
46. (Johnson, 290)
47. (Johnson, 299)
48. (Pickering 204)
49. (Gazette)
50. (Marx, 119)
51. (Marx, 119)
52. (Levin 68)
53. (Levin 72)
Annoted Bibliography
Farrow, John. “The Story of Thomas More.” Catholic Information Network. 1997. 10 Nov. 2009. < http://www.cin.org/farmor.html>.
The website that I found here contained a very well written biography of Thomas More, author of the
book Utopia. I read this towards the beginning of the project to get an idea of an early definition of what a “utopia” really was.
“Joshua Muravchik.” Right Web. 26 Jan. 2009. IRC-Political Research Associates. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Muravchik_Joshua>.
This website gave me a very useful biography of Joshua Muravchik. I was able to see his views on some of the Utopian socialists of the 19th century including, Owen and Marx.
Kuhn, Rick. “Manifesto of the Communist Party 1848.” 28 April 2008. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html>.
I used this website version of the Communist Manifesto when I was unable to use the book version.
Marx, Karl, and Engels, Frederick. The Communist Manifesto. 1848.
I used the Manifesto as my primary source reading in my part of the project. The part I chose gave a very straight forward explanation of what the definition of a Utopian socialist was for Marx and Engels.
Kreis, Steven. “Robert Owen, 1771-1858.” The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History. 2000. 10 Nov. 2009. <http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/owen.html>.
I chose this website for the very thorough biography of the life of Robert Owen. The writing gave me a good impression of how he was able to work at improving the conditions for the working class by reinvesting his profits back into his workers.
“Utopians and Socialists.” The History of Economic Thought Website. 15 Nov. 2009. <http://homepage.newschool.edu/hetschools/utopia.htm>.
I fell upon this website as I was searching for more Utopian socialists. I used this site to get more information on some of the well known Utopian socialists, as well as some that I had never heard of before.
Taylor,Keith. The Poltical Ideas of the Utopian Socialists. 1 ed. Totawa, New Jersey: Frank Cass and Comany Limited, 1982.
This book covered the big names in Utopain Socialism, with a biography and then aspects of their ideas.
Taylor, Antony. 1995. "New Views of an Old Moral World: An Apprasial of Robert Owen.” Labor History 36, no. 1: 88-94. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2009).
A review of the books written by Robert Owen, covers aspects of his life and how Owen went about his job of changing Utopian ideals.
Walsh, Chad. From Utopia to Nightmare. New York City: Harper and Row, 1962.
This book covered both the early days of Utopian socialism, to the later days, and then dives into modern Utopian ideas.
Sombart,Wener. Socialism and the Social Movement. 6th Translated by M. Epstein. New York City: Augustus M. Kelley, 1968.
This book, originally written in German, has a few chapters about Utopian Socialism, it also shows a connection between Utopian socialism and later Communist ideas.
Eckalbar, John C. 1977. "The Saint-Simonian Philosophy of History: A Note." History & Theory 16, no. 1: 40-44. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2009).
This article covers the philosphy of the Saint Simonians, and also parts of their early history.
Pickering, Mary. 1993. "Auguste Comete and the Saint-Simonians." French Historical Studies 18, no. 1: 211-236. Historical Abstracts, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2009).
This article covered the connection between August Comte, a secretary and friend of Henri Saint Simon, and his relationship with the Saint-Simonian church.
Alan B. Spitzer, The French Generation of 1820 (Princeton, 1987).
Explains some of the back ground of the French people that became Utopoan Socialist.
“Gazette Nationale, ou Le Monituer universel,” trans. Laura Mason, Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo, eds., The French Revolution: A Document Collection (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999), 60-61.
Transcript of the Tennis Court Oaths.
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto, (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s), 1999.
Explains Marx's views, in this edition there were also other primary sources in the appendixes including Fourier.
Michael Levin, “John Stuart Mill: A Liberal looks at Utopian Socialism in the Years of Revolution 1848-9,” Utopian Studies 14, no. 2 (2003): 68-82.
Looks at the Utopian Socialist during the time of the Revolutions of 1848.
Frederick Engels, “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific,” Marx/Engels Selected Works, vol. 3 (Progress Publishers) 1970, 95-151. Explains Engels views on Socialism.
Johnson, Christopher H. Utopian Communism in France: Cabet ad the Icarians 1839-1851. Ithaca and London: Cornell University
Press, 1974.
This describes Etienne Cabet's Icarian Movement.
Harrison, J.F.C. Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America: The Quest for the New Moral World. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1969.
This book describes Robert Owen's background and his experiments of Utopian communities.
Slusser, George, Paul Alkon, Roger Gaillard, and Daniele Chatelain. Transformations of Utopia: Changing Views of Perfect Society. New York: AMS Press, 1999.
This monograph describes how the views of various Utopian Socialists differed on what they thought was a perfect society.
Lasky, Melvin J. Utopia and Revolution. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
This book describes how Utopian Philosophers were involved in Revolutions throughout France.
Ohio State History Department, "Foundations of Utopia" www.ohio.edu/Chastian/rz/sanomni.htm (acsessed October 28, 2009)
This describes the influence Charles Fourier had on the Utopian Socialist Movement.